A friend of mine sent me this cute wrap-up of a conversation he had with his little daughters this morning. I reprint it here, with his permission, and am changing their names to protect their privacy, and also because I never got to name girl babies:

Scene: This frosty morning, driving my girls to their Catholic elementary school

Annaliese: Dad! Did you know St. Benedict helped people live a balanced life?

Dad: Really? Wow, that’s neat!

Annaliese: Yeah! Through study, work, prayer & rest.

Dad: That’s great! Let me tell you about St. John’s University where there’s an Abbey with monks who live a life inspired by St. Benedict. It’s called Benedictine. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah (droning on interminably as girls gaze distracted out their windows)…. And so the monks live, work & pray together & don’t get married. Pretty cool, huh?

Evangeline: So they marry the Church?

Me: Yes! Yes! Exactly! Good job, Evie!

Evangeline: (beaming)

Annaliese: Do you know how many muscles a caterpillar has? Four thousand!

The story of the great founder of western monasticism is a great intoduction for kids into the whole concept of living “in community” and “marrying the church”, so to speak, and here McKenzie selects the highlights of Benedict’s life and serves them up in a way that will interest children without condescending to them.

But of course, this is a children’s book, so it was absolutely necessary to tell about the dragon: